Sidel’s Lightweight Bottle Design; An Example of Resin Savings

The current upward trajectory of PET prices makes such designs more attractive.

 

Just a few days ago, I blogged about how higher crude oil prices and key feedstocks for several resins, coupled with planned and unplanned outages in some cases, have resulted in very early year price increases of several commodity resins, including PET.

 

How long prices of key PET feedstocks—PTA, MEG, and paraxylene, will continue to be volatile and impact PET prices is difficult to tell at this moment. How much higher PET prices are likely to get is also not clear, although a global oversupply situation which has been in existence is more than likely to continue for some time.

 

Still, I would venture most processors are sure to continue to look for ways of reducing resin usage in their products, such as through innovative lightweighting methods. Among equipment makers who have worked on improving both the efficiency of their equipment as well as on the development of innovative packaging concepts, is Sidel (U.S. office in Norcross, Ga.).

 

Two such innovations, launched within the last three years, nicely demonstrate the company’s ability to solve the dilemma between lightweight PET design and the need to protect the brand experience in the hands of consumers, all without compromising on production costs.

 

Bottles designed following Sidel RightWeight concept, reportedly offer improved performance and reductions in material costs, while the implementation of the Sidel StarLite base in PET bottles is said to enable a reduction in air-blowing pressure, yet increase the resistance of the base and stability of the bottle. Here’s more on each:

 

• RightWeight: Weighing just 7.95 grams, the RightWeight 0.5-litre bottle is around 34% lighter that the average commercial bottle for still water and demonstrates an impressive top load performance making it 32% more resistant than the lightest commercial bottle. Moreover, the RightWeight bottle achieves this rigidity without the use of nitrogen dosing, again minimizing costs.

 

• StartLite: Through the use of two proprietary PET design innovations, the StarLite PET bottle base for still drinks has a unique shape that makes the bottom of the container significantly more resistant and stable. Also, it is said to offer better protection against extreme temperatures (hot and cold) while reducing energy consumption during production, lowering package weight and improving design flexibility—all without compromising on bottle integrity or product safety.

 

Read more about the process in the PT Blow Molding Zone.